Mac Book Pro woes

Win7 now or Win8 in the fall - pretty flawless



Jedi (Yes, I run a Mac - among many other operating sytems)



ps - Traditionally, Macs don't "Crash" - they "Hang" - to the fanboys, that's somehow better

 

Reinstall the OS on the Mac. That should fix it unless you have a hardware problem. If you do, it's still under warranty, right?

Otherwise, PC plus Vegas or any other video editing program.

 

As I said... Win7 or Win8 this fall



Jedi

 

Check those fans & have the internals cleaned, I have a 3.14 17" MBP that lasted me about six years. The problem is it just couldn't keep up with current software & the screen was starting to fail.

 

How much memory you have? It is mighty cheap now, add some to 8 or 16 gig. Replace hdd with SSD, fresh lion install and enjoy your new twice faster mac

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

I have a 2009 Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz. I use it to run recording sessions and do video editing. It's never given me the problems you've described, however.

I just switched to a 750GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid SSD/HDD and the machine is FLYING now! I mean it's like I just switched to a quad-core processor machine. I cannot say enough about how great this drive is! Best bang for the buck I think I've ever spent on any laptop.

I agree with the other poster. Try the Momentus or a pure SSD (depending on how much storage you need), max out to 8GB, and lay down a fresh install of Lion. I bet that will solve your problems, both performance and reliability.

 

The reason behind reinstalling the OS is because you never know what the previous owner did to it. I've been using Macs since 2008 and must admit I dorked up my Mac Mini and had to do a reinstall.

BUT, your machine, even maxed out just isn't suited to the task. You really need more RAM and the 3,1 can only take 6GB. I think you should should sell it (it's still a great machine for every day use - still do a reinstall) and get a more recent Mac that can accommodate a lot more RAM. You really need a 2011 or later Mac with Thunderbolt because it is the fastest way to work with external drives. I suppose you could go a little older, but Thunderbolt drives are getting reasonably priced. An SSD is a good idea.

I have an MBP 8,1 with 8GB RAM and a 250 GB SSD. Large SSDs are expensive btw. I think I paid about $2700 for it last Fall. It screams. I also have a Mac Mini which I love. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad of some sort, it's brand new, but I only use it when some older web sites require Internet Explorer.

I use Windows machines at work. For what you want to do, Windows just doesn't cut the mustard unless you want to pour a ton of money into it and it still won't have the tight native integration you require.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Cheap, too.

Amazon has it for $149 right now: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00691WMJG/ref=asc_df_B00691WMJG2065634?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pg-465-34-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395097&creativeASIN=B00691WMJG

Review: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/momentus-xt-750gb-review,3223-8.html

 

Get pure ssd, they go here and there on sale if 256gig is enough for you. No moving parts is a big plus.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

Replace it with 2x4gb sticks, 2 is borderline low for any vid editing. Dont buy ram and ssd from apple, go to newegg.com. If you need some help with upgrade let me know. Good luck!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

Np. Forgot to mention that SuperDuper is a great HDD cloning tool if you decide not to start with a fresh copy of the OS. Make a copy and it'll boot right up.

http://download.cnet.com/SuperDuper/3000-2242_4-46651.html

(And I would definitely go ahead and max out the memory while you're in there.)

 

Use OWC to see what RAM it takes. Your machine maxes out at 6GB

 

Okay, last link. This is the guide for using SuperDuper, but it's really easy: http://mac.appstorm.net/how-to/hardware-how-to/how-to-make-a-bootable-hard-drive-clone-with-superduper/

Good luck. Your timing is good because I just did this 4 days ago!

 

Macbook Pros are garbage. Sell it and buy something else. I do editing on a refurb $500 Fujitsu laptop (Windows 7, 4gb ram).

If you build your own desktop, build it to run Avid an you'll have no regrets. Avid is the best.